Fact Check by the New York Times on Trump’s Critiques of the Affordable Care Act

After President Trump blamed the news media on Monday morning for “making Obamacare look so good”, an article written on the New York Times is fact checking some criticisms from Mr. Trump and his team on the Obamacare. For the newspaper’s fact checking at least 4 out of 6 statements are misleading and one is declared false.

Mr. Trump pointed to high premium increases. NYT artcile aknowlodges that the premiuns for the benchmark plan have increased, however it also states that looking at premium increases alone does not fully capture what people are paying.Indeed, about 84 percent of enrollees qualify for tax credits that help to make less sharp the costs in 2017.

Mr. Trump criticized the law for having little impact on the number of insured. According to The New York TImes fact checking this is false as about 20 million have gained insurance under the act. Analysis from the Commonwealth Fund concluded that the Affordable Care Act was responsible for a majority of the decline of uninsured rate.

Mr. Trump suggested millions are unsatisfied with the Affordable Care Act or lost health care because of it.The article defined this statatement as misleading: as 2014 study from the RAND corporation, a nonprofit think tank, concluded that fewer than one million people, not “millions,” ended up with no insurance at all.

Tom Price, the secretary of health and human services, suggested the Affordable Care Act has forced workers to take on multiple jobs. Again according to the New York Times studies have been unable to find much evidence of a widespread shift to part-time employment.

Mr. Price argued that Medicaid, not the Affordable Care Act, is the leading driver of more coverage. As checked by the NYT, out of the 20 million people who have gained insurance under the law, about 14.5 million received coverage through Medicaid, 3.3 million of whom were previously eligible. Again the data collected by the newspaper make defined this statement as misleading.

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, claimed the Affordable Care Act has caused increases in private employer-based insurance as well. Independent estimates for the rate of increase hover in the 3% to 4% range. But this trend was occurring in the years before the Affordable Care Act as well.